1950 Rainfall Records
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The 1950 rainfall records for the
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n states of
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
and
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
reported probably the most remarkable record high
rainfall Rain is a form of precipitation where water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. ...
totals ever recorded anywhere in the continent. Averaged over both of these states, 1950 is clearly the wettest year since adequate records became available ''circa'' 1885. Queensland recorded a statewide average rainfall of around as against a mean since 1885 of around , whilst New South Wales recorded around as against an instrumental mean around . Australia's wettest town, Tully also recorded its highest annual rainfall total in 1950 with .


Evolution and causes of the abnormal rainfall


First four months

The year 1950 opened quite quietly over Australia, with a relatively inactive
monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...
and generally very cool conditions further south. A major cyclone in the third week of January gave substantial rain to most of New South Wales and caused high winds that killed seven people, but it was not until February that the pattern of abnormal rainfall over NSW and Queensland became firmly established. Especially heavy rainfall occurred over the southwest of New South Wales (extending into most of
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
) during February, but it was in March, normally at the end of the wet season, that the heaviest rainfall occurred. The monsoon trough, which is normally situated around Cape York Peninsula, moved to a latitude near Boulia. At the beginning of that month some of the worst flooding on record occurred over the Barron and
Herbert River The Herbert River is a river in Far North Queensland, Australia. The southernmost of Queensland's wet tropics river systems, it was named in 1864 by George Elphinstone Dalrymple explorer, after Robert Herbert, Robert George Wyndham Herbert, th ...
s, and with a major
tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...
following the contour of the Queensland coast for over a week from 4 to 11 March and then moving inland, the heavy rain extended deep into the interior of Queensland and even to that part of
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
northeast of the
Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain ranges in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhab ...
. The flood on the
Diamantina River The Diamantina River is a major river in Central West Queensland and the far north of South Australia. The river was named by William Landsborough in 1866 for Lady Diamantina Bowen (née Roma), wife of Sir George Bowen, the first Governor of Qu ...
was measured as the highest ever recorded, and Windorah on the lower
Cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), an alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * "Cooper", a song by Roxette from ...
recorded for the entire month , which is about 145 percent of its mean annual rainfall. Most pastoral areas were described as having a "superabundance of feed" and losses of sheep in the
Lake Eyre Basin The Lake Eyre basin ( ) is a drainage basin that covers just under one-sixth of all Australia. It is the largest endorheic basin in Australia and amongst the largest in the world, covering about , including much of inland Queensland, large port ...
due to blowfly strike were as serious as experienced in the frequent
droughts A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...
characteristic of the basin's extraordinarily variable climate. With the interaction with a cold front mid-month, the heavy rainfall shifted southward to the
Murrumbidgee River The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...
basin. In three days,
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
received and the heavy rain continued over southeastern New South Wales and adjacent Victoria until the end of the month. Major flooding – unusual for this time of year – occurred on all rivers draining from the
Australian Alps The Australian Alps are a mountain range in southeast Australia. The range comprises an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion,
and over the South Coast. By the time the rain eased after further heavy falls early in April, Canberra had had its second wettest month on record. Over the
North Coast North Coast or Northcoast may refer to : Antigua and Barbuda * Major Division of North Coast, an urban area and major division in the parish of Saint John * North Coast, Barbuda, an administrative district of Barbuda Australia * New South Wa ...
up to
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
and inland to the
Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generally ...
, however, March rainfall had been below normal. In these regions, however, the moist easterly flow of March continued to bring heavy rainfall later in April; however, in much of western and far southern New South Wales April was very dry. The continuing rain, aided by falls near Lake Eyre that prevented the rivers drying up, allowed the lake to begin filling during that month to the astonishment of many people who had seen the lake during the dry era from 1922 to 1938 and concluded that the lake could never fill with water.


Second four months

May and the first week of June saw a relatively typical winter circulation over most parts of Australia. However, the tendency of strong frontal depressions to move inland combined with generally weak anticyclones meant that temperatures were generally mild, whilst a major low pressure system off the south coast gave that region further flooding rains. From the second week of June to the end of winter, the weather patterns became quite unusual. Strong high-pressure systems over
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
and Victoria were virtually constant and allowed moist easterly air to flow consistently over New South Wales and Queensland. Combined with a series of upper-level lows lifting the moisture, this caused remarkably heavy rain except over the extreme south of New South Wales, where it was dry and the
ski season Skis are runners, attached to the user's feet, designed to glide over snow. Typically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partially secured heel. For climbing slopes, ski skins can ...
extremely poor. June 1950 was
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
's wettest month on record with , whilst at Dorrigo on the edge of the coastal escarpment, over fell in the last three weeks of the month and on the 24th alone. Even at normally dry
Longreach Longreach is a rural town and locality in the Longreach Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Longreach Regional Council, which was established in 2008 as a merger of the former Longreach, Ilfracombe, and I ...
, fell for June and for July. Most extraordinary, however, was on the Central Coast of Queensland, where Bowen received over , or ''twenty times its normal July rainfall''. Owing to the moist easterly flow, temperatures for the winter were remarkably mild. At
Inverell Inverell is a large town in northern New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Macintyre River, close to the Queensland border. It is also the centre of Inverell Shire. Inverell is located on the Gwydir Highway on the western slopes of the ...
, the mean minimum for July was , which is as much as 6 °C above normal and an incredible 10 °C (18 °F) higher than had been recorded just four years previously. The consequences of this heavy rain falling on saturated catchments with absolutely no drying westerly winds was disastrous. Most rivers on the coast of New South Wales, and many further inland, reached record levels. Food shortages were particularly prevalent in Sydney and surrounding cities, and
railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
s and roads were repeatedly cut as each successive storm flooded all major rivers.
Vegetable Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including edible flower, flo ...
crops on the Hawkesbury River were hardest hit, with most being completely destroyed and prices skyrocketing. Except for a central portion of New South Wales, August was fairly dry. However, the continued absence of
frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...
or westerly winds meant that at the end of winter catchments were still extremely wet. With the
Southern Oscillation Index Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express ...
firmly established as strongly positive after a couple of years near zero, it was clear that further heavy rain was always imminent.


Last four months

September continued mild with rainfall ranging from nil in western NSW to again very heavy around
Dubbo Dubbo (; ) is a city in the Orana (New South Wales), Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the ...
and
Nyngan Nyngan () is a town in the centre of New South Wales, Australia, in the Bogan Shire local government area within the Orana Region of central New South Wales. At the 2016 census, Nyngan had a population of 1,988 people. Nyngan is situated on th ...
, but October and November, with cold air continually interacting with moist easterly winds, saw a return to the extreme wet conditions of June and July. In these two months Dubbo received a total of of rain and the flooding of March returned to the reprieved southeastern areas of New South Wales. By the end of October a large number of stations had already exceeded annual records set in the 1890s. Wheat crops in all of Queensland and all but the
Riverina The Riverina () is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...
in NSW, which had needed some fine weather to finish, were almost completely destroyed by the excessive rainfall. Many farmers had no crop at all because of
rust Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH) ...
and many other crops were fed to
cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...
as their quality as grain was extremely poor. The continued rain and mild conditions (warm in the south, cool in the tropics) led to an outbreak of
Murray Valley encephalitis Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVEV) is a zoonotic flavivirus endemic to northern Australia and Papua New Guinea. It is the causal agent of Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE; previously known as Australian encephalitis or Australian X disease). ...
which killed 19 people during the subsequent summer. It had the remarkable positive, however, of allowing the first curbs to the rabbit plague in Australia via
myxomatosis Myxomatosis is a disease caused by '' Myxoma virus'', a poxvirus in the genus '' Leporipoxvirus''. The natural hosts are tapeti (''Sylvilagus brasiliensis'') in South and Central America, and brush rabbits (''Sylvilagus bachmani'') in North ...
, which had not spread in the dry era since 1922 because of the absence of standing water for
mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...
es to breed. December was very wet in the north, with many rainfall records in the
Georgina River The Georgina River is the north-westernmost of the three major rivers of the Channel Country in Central West Queensland, that also flows through a portion of the Northern Territory, in central Australia. Part of the Lake Eyre basin, the Georg ...
basin, but was hot and dry in New South Wales except around
Tibooburra Tibooburra (pronounced or ) is a town in the Far West, New South Wales, far northwest of New South Wales, Australia, located from the state capital, Sydney. It is most frequently visited by tourists on their way to Sturt National Park or ...
in the far northwest. Between Sydney and Dubbo it was the first drier-than-normal month since 1949.


Evaluation

The extremely widespread flooding that resulted from record rains and unusually low evaporation caused at least 26 deaths on the North Coast during the winter. Although record rainfall occurred over about ''two-thirds'' of New South Wales and half of Queensland, the most remarkable rainfalls occurred over the central inland of New South Wales. At many stations in the basins of the Macquarie and
Bogan River Bogan River, a perennial river that is part of the Macquarie– Barwon catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the central west and Orana regions of New South Wales, Australia. From its origin near Parkes, the Bogan River ...
s, the 1950 annual rainfall are as much as higher than that of the second-wettest year in a record of around 130 years: Some stations show similar differences in 1974 (central Australia) and 2000 (
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
,
Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...
and
Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...
). However, it is probable that by then
global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...
and possibly
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
n
aerosol An aerosol is a suspension (chemistry), suspension of fine solid particles or liquid Drop (liquid), droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be generated from natural or Human impact on the environment, human causes. The term ''aerosol'' co ...
s were influencing Australia's climate and thus these are ''not'' natural variability, which the record 1950 rainfalls above undoubtedly are. Using a
normal distribution In probability theory and statistics, a normal distribution or Gaussian distribution is a type of continuous probability distribution for a real-valued random variable. The general form of its probability density function is f(x) = \frac ...
one can estimate the
return period A return period, also known as a recurrence interval or repeat interval, is an average time or an estimated average time between events such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, or river discharge flows to occur. The reciprocal value of return p ...
of 1950-level annual rainfall for the Dubbo region as around 375 years, or about three times the length of instrumental rainfall data. For areas even a little further west, however, the
skewness In probability theory and statistics, skewness is a measure of the asymmetry of the probability distribution of a real-valued random variable about its mean. The skewness value can be positive, zero, negative, or undefined. For a unimodal ...
is too high to use this method, but there can be little doubt that the return periods are similar. Excluding records post-1968, when enhanced
greenhouse gas Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the gases in the atmosphere that raise the surface temperature of planets such as the Earth. Unlike other gases, greenhouse gases absorb the radiations that a planet emits, resulting in the greenhouse effect. T ...
es has undoubtedly impacted Australian rainfall beyond (admittedly generally high) natural variability, there are no other totals over a substantial area that compare for improbability of being repeated. The extreme absence of westerly winds meant that unlike 1956, 1973 and 1974, the year 1950 was not uniformly wet over Australia: indeed, in much of Tasmania and Western Australia the anticyclonic control associated with the moist airflow over New South Wales and Queensland produced unusually dry conditions. (A remarkable statistic associated with this is that, although the sixth wettest year averaged over Australia since 1900, 1950 had a higher proportion of Australia in the ''lowest 10 percent'' than 81 out of 117 other years.Sorted data set of proportion of Australia in first decile
/ref>


See also

*
Climate of Australia Australia's climate is governed mostly by its size and by the hot, sinking air of the subtropical high pressure belt (subtropical ridge or Australian High). This moves north-west and north-east with the seasons. The climate is variable, with ...
*
La Niña LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...
*
Lake Eyre Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in the east-central part of the Far North (South Australia), Far North region of South Australia, some 700 km (435 mi) north of Adelaide. It is the larg ...
*
Southern Oscillation Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express ...


References

{{Floods in Australia Climate of Australia Floods in Australia History of New South Wales History of Queensland Rainfall records 1950 natural disasters 1950s floods 20th-century floods in Oceania Weather records